Yale Athletics
While most students returned home for the holidays, the Yale men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams spent their winter hard at work training for the remainder of the season, even putting forward strong performances to dismantle Dartmouth and Penn.
The two Ivy League rivals proved to be no match for the Yale women’s team (6–0, 4–0 Ivy), which continues its undefeated streak. The Elis bested the Quakers (2–5, 2–4) with a score of 217–83 and trounced the Big Green (2–5, 1–3) by an overwhelming margin of 159 points.
During the Friday diving events, Nikki Watters ’21 swept away all her competition, taking first in both the 1-meter and 3-meter dives with scores of 262.20 and 258.80, respectively.
On Saturday, Caitlin Tycz ’22 continued to dominate in the butterfly, touching in at first with a time of 2:01.69 in the 200-yard and a time of 55.14 in the 100-yard. First years Jamie Yeh ’23 and Jessica Whang ’23 had a meet to remember, with Yeh sweeping the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 56.08 and Whang besting her competition in the 100-yard breaststroke by a narrow margin of 66 milliseconds.
Yeh, Tycz and Whang teamed up with Izzi Henig ’22 in the 200-yard medley relay, gliding to a first-place finish by a margin of 1.66 seconds. The 400-yard relay team consisting of Henig, Raime Jones ’22, Ophelia Pilkinton ’23 and Marlise Moesch ’22 saw similar success, placing first with a time of 3:28.50.
The men’s team (5–1, 3–1) battled to a hard-fought 160–140 win against Penn (4–3, 3–3) and a resounding 218–82 victory over Dartmouth (1–6, 0–4).
The Elis took first in both the backstroke events. First year Greg Kalin ’23 swam a 50.53 in the 100-yard event, while Cristian Bell ’22 added to the tally with a time of 1:49.52.
First year Joseph Page ’23 dominated the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle with times of 44.55 and 1:39.66, respectively.
Henry Gaissert ’20 swam a lightning-fast 20.39 time in the 50-yard freestyle, clinching first by 15 milliseconds.
Page, Gaissert, Philippe Marcoux ’22 and Nathan Stern ’22 brought their individual talents together for the 400-yard freestyle relay. The quartet kept up their hot streak and bested the competition with a time of 2:58.94.
Christian DeVol ’21 had a standout performance on the diving board, racking up 352.55 points in the 1-meter dive to clinch first place and taking second in the 3-meter dive with a score of 336.10.
“Following Penn and Dartmouth, I am most proud of how far the team has come over the last year,” captain Kendall Brent ’20 said. “It was a true team effort on both the men and women’s sides to pull off a win like that.”
Prior to the weekend sweep, the Elis upheld an over-20-year-old tradition by traveling to Puerto Rico for their annual winter training camp. The teams traded the harsh New Haven winter for 80-degree temperatures, spending their days training hard in the pool and their off time bonding with teammates on the beach and exploring local sites.
“In the weeks ahead my [personal] goal is to continue to train and get ready for not only Cornell but also our [Harvard Yale Princeton] meet at the end of the month,” DeVol said. “Everyone trained incredibly hard during our time in Puerto Rico, and it was rewarding to have that show in the meet. I want to see that continue as we start the semester.”
The Elis take on Cornell this weekend at home for their senior meet at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Ryan Chiao | ryan.chiao@yale.edu
Correction, Jan. 15: A previous version of this article stated that Joseph Page ’23 represented Thailand in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games. In fact, it was Nathan Stern ’22, not Page. This article has also been updated to accurately reflect the date and location of the team’s next meet.